Window lock construction



Aug. 23, 1960 C. P. PENGELLY WINDOW LOCK CONSTRUCTION Original Filed May 23, 1958 Fig;

2 Sheets-Sheet 1 NVENTOR OHARLE PENGELLY ATTORNEY Aug. 23, 1960 c. P. PENGELLY 2,950,136

WINDOW LOCK CONSTRUCTION Original Filed May 23, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 0 F0 5 Fly. 4

lg. i l 5; l I 68 e4 1 (as 7 X l 70" l I I 1' 5 30 I 7 E I :ze i i i I 1 I I l 1 1 I I I l l i I l l i I l l i I I i INVENTOR J CHARLES P. PENGELLY M H W ATTORNEY llnitcd States Fatent WINDOW LOCK CONSTRUCTION Charles P. Pengelly, Merchantville, N.J., assignor to an Master Corporation, Philadelphia, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Continuation of application Ser. No. 737,381, May 23, 1958. This application Apr. 7, 1959, Ser. No. 804,710

11 Claims. (Cl. 292-64) The present invention is directed to a window lock construction, and more particularly to a window lock construction which enables a window to be readily locked in position at a selected height station. This is a continuation of my copending application Serial No. 737,381, filed May 23, 1958, entitled, Window Lock Construction, now abandoned.

It has long been desirable to provide foolproof means for securely locking a window, such as a storm window, at a predetermined position. Moreover, it has proved desirable to provide windows with locks which may be readily manipulated by women or even children who do no possess much strength.

This invention has as an object the provision of a novel Window lock construction.

This invention has as another object the provision of a novel window lock construction which permits a window to be securely locked at a predetermined station, and yet which also permits the window to be readily withdrawn to another station by the application of a minimum amount of force.

This invention has as a further object the provision of a window lock construction in which the locking means are provided on the inside face of the sash of the window at a position of ready access.

This invention has as yet another object the provision of a window lock construction having prime utility for windows comprising metal sashes and metal sash frames.

Other objects will appear hereinafter.

For the purpose of illustrating the invention there is shown in the drawings a form which is presently preferred; it being understood, however, that this invention is not limited to the precise arrangements and instrumentalities shown.

Referring to the drawings wherein like reference characters refer to like parts:

Figure 1 is an elevational view revealing a window comprising the present invention.

Figure 2 is a fragmentary view, partly in section, revealing the construction of the window lock construction of the present invention.

Figure 3 is a section taken on line 3-3 of Figure 2 with parts broken away to reveal the construction.

Figure 4 is a section taken on line 44 of Figure 2.

Figure 5 is a fragmentary elevational view taken on line 5--5 of Figure l revealing the construction of the basal locking slot and a raised locking slot station.

Figure 6 is a front end view of the window lock construction of the present invention.

The subject invention has prime utility to windows comprising a metal sash and a metal sash-frame. Thus, the present invention has prime utility to storm windows, such as the widely used aluminum storm windows, which are mounted outside of the regular windows of a house. It is desirable to be able to lock the bottom storm window in a predetermined raised disposition, as opposed to its normal completely closed disposition, particularly when the time of the year approaches in which the weather is changeable, so that on some days the full utility of storm windows is desired whereas on other days direct communication with the outside atmosphere is desired.

Referring to the drawings, the window comprising the present invention is designated generally as 10. The window 10 comprises the sash frame 12 in which the sash 14 slides. The construction of the present invention is applicable to sash frames comprising any number of tracks, so that the construction of the present invention may be utilized on both single track and plural track sash frames.

The basal portion of the sash 14 is provided on its interior face with the track 16. Thus, the sash 14 may be formed as an extrusion with the track 16 formed into the sash 14.

A pair of window locks 18 and 20 are carried by the track 16, the window lock 18 being positioned at the left end portion of the track 16 and the window lock 20 being position at the right end portion of the track 16. For the purposes of illustrating the subject invention, the description will be presented for window lock 18. However, it is to be understood that the window locks 18 and 20 are of substantially identical construction, and that the description of window lock 18 is applicable to window lock 20.

The window lock 18 comprises two discrete locking elements, namely the latch element 22 and the thumb rest element 24. The latch element 22 and thumb rest element 24 are retained altogether within the track 16 of sash 14 by means of the bowed leaf spring 26 which engages the floor 28 of track 16 and has one end slideably received within the slot 30 of latch element 22 and its other end slideably received within a slot 32 of thumb rest element 24.

The inner end of latch element 22 is shaped as the knob 34. The front of the knob 34 is slideably received within the groove 36 of thumb rest element 24, While the back of the knob 34 is engaged with the floor 28 of track 16 of sash 14. The back portion of knob 34 is provided with a streamlined head to facilitate facile pivotation, as will be more fully described below. As indicated in Figure 3 the slot 37 of latch element 22 extends through the knob 34.

The track 16 is provided with inturned flanges 38,

which are spaced from and face the floor 28. Each of the flanges 38 is provided with a notch or slot 44), such notches 40 being aligned with each other and being mating images of each other.

The latch element 22 comprises an elongated striplike member having a uniform width for its entire length. Its outer portion is provided with the platform 41 on its front surface, the platform 41 rising above the front surface of the latch element 22. The outer end of the platform 41 is provided with the tongue 42, which comprises a centrally positioned extension of the platform 41 of relatively narrow width. The bottom surface 43 of the tongue 42 tapers upwardly from the outer surface of the tongue (see Figure 6) for reasons which will be explained below. The bottom portion of the outermost end portion 60 of the latch element 22 is cut away below the tongue 42. The bottom surface 61 of the outermost end portion 60 is tapered so as to be a continuation of the bottom surface 43 of the tongue 42. The tongue 42 is received within the basal slot 44 of sash frame 12, the sash 14 being positioned in its lowermost or closed position in Figure 2. The basal slot 44 has opposed walls which are vertical in respect to its floor (see in particular Figure 5).

The latch element 22 includes the push button 46 which is spaced a short distance from the tongue 42. It will be noted from Figure 3 that the bowed leaf spring 26 is of such shape that the tongue and push button portion are spacedthe maximum distance from the floor 28 of track 16 while the knob 34 is engaged with the floor 28 of track 16. One of the flanges 38 may be notched, as at 48, in the region of the-push button 46 inorder to provide for the movement of the push button 46. In place of the push button 46, a variety of bosses, knurled shapes, indentations, and platforms may be utilized to provide a finger positioning spot on latch element 22.

The upper surface of latch element 22 is provided with a cross-wise ridge 50, which is spaced a short distance from 'the knob 34. Between the ridge 50 and the knob 34 there is a groove 52 within which the downwardly extending projection 54 from thumb rest element 24 is received It will be seen fromFigure 3 that the relative arrangement of the knob 34 of latch element 22 and the projection 54 of thumb rest element 24 is such as to permit independent rocking of the latch element 22 on the bottom face of knob 34 when the push button 46 is pressed downwardly.

a The thumb rest 24 comprises a central platform 56 which projects upwardly intermediate the flanges '38 of track 16 and is inwardly spaced from the'sides of the thurnb rest 24. The uppermost surface of the major portion of the platform 56 is provided with corrugations in order to facilitate frictional engagement with the thumb of the user.

The platform 56 is provided with a pair of offset tongues 58. 'Such tongues 58 rise for the same height as the platform 56 above the top surface of'the thumb rest element 24, "but extend from the inwardly disposed platform '56 to the marginal edges of the thumb rest element 24. The tongues 58 have a height and width dimension enabling them to be received within the notches 40 of the flanges 38 of track 16. When the tongues 58 are so-received in 22 are entirely received within the track 16 of sash 14. This is accomplished by pushing down on the platforms 56 of the thumb rest elements 24 of the window locks 18 and 29 so as to release the tongues 58 from the notches 49 in the flanges 38 of the track 16, followed by the lateral inward movement of the window locks 18 and 29 in the track 16. In this disposition, the window locks 18 and 20 are entirelydisengaged, and the sash 14 may be moved within the sash frame 12 without any interference from the window locks 18 and 26.

Althernatively, the latch elements 22 of the window locks 18 and 20 may be kept within the track 62 of sash frame 12, and the tongues 42 of the latch elements 22 of tongues 42 enabling the. same to be released from the the notches 40, the window lock18 cannot undergo lateral 52, the lock 18 may be moved laterally inwardly within the track 16 to a disposition in which its outermost end is received entirely within the track 16 and does not projcct beyond the'sash. As seen'particularly in Figure 2,

basal slots 44. The sash 14. can be raised past any'of the locking slots 64 since the latch elements 22 of the window'locks 18 and 20 will cam on the angular wall 68 of each of the slots 64. 'However, the downward move ment of the sash 14 will be arrested by each of the slots 64 since the latch elements 22 .of'the window locks 18 and 20 cannot cam on the bottom perpendicular walls 66 of the slots 64, whereby engagement of such bottom walls 66 of the slots 64 with the tongues 42 of the latch elements 22 of the window locks 18 and 20 will be had. In order to effect disengagement, between the slots 64 and the window locks 13 and 20, it is only necessary to press in the push buttons 46 of the window locks 18 and 20. The shaping 'of the slots 64in the above-indicated manner provides an important safety feature since each of the slots 64 constitutes a stop which halts the downward movement of the sash 14. It is a frequent cause of window breakage for a window to move downwardly within a track from a raised position to its lowered position without any restraint.

In addition, when the tongues 42 of the latch elements 22 engage in the slots 64 upon dropping of the sash 14, the sharp front corner of the tapered bottom surfaces 43 of the tongues 42 bite into the bottom walls 66 of the slots 64. In time, the engagement between the tapered bottom surface 43 of the tongues 42 and the bottom walls when the tongues 58 are received Within the notches 4G 7 the outermost end portion of the latch element 22 projects beyond the sash 14, the outermost end 69 being received within the track 62 in sash frame 12 while the tongue 42 is received within the basal slot 44 as heretofore indicated.

The track 62 of sash frame 12 is provide with a plurality of slots 64 in addition to the basal slot 44 (only one such slot 64 is shown in Figure 5, but any desired number of such slots 64 may be provided). Both the basal slot 44 and the slots 64 on the one side of the sash frame 12 shown in Figure 5 are aligned with similar slots 44 and 64 on the other side of the sashrframe 12.

The slots 64, which comprise the raised locking slot stations on the sash frame 12, differ from the basal slot 44 in that while the bottom wall of each slot 64 is perpendicularly disposed to the floor of the slot, the top wall of each slot 64 is angularly disposed to the floor of the slot at a gentle angle extending away from the perperpendicular wall of the slot. In respect to slot 64 the bottom perpendicular wall is designated 66 and the upper angular wall is designated 68.

The operation of the window lock construction of the present invention is as follows:

In order to raise the sash 14 from the basal slots 44 of the sash frame 12 when the tongues 42 of the window locks 18 and 20 are received within such basal slots 44, the window locks 18 and 20 may be retired to a position in which the outermost ends 60 of their latch elements 66 of the slots 64 will taper the bottom walls 66 inwardly and downwardly as indicated by dotted line 70 in Figure 5. Thus, when the tongues 4-2 enter the slots 64 the tongues 42 will be cammed securely into the slots :2 to 'prevent further downward movement of the sash The present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential attributes thereof and, accordingly, reference should be made to the appended claims, rather than to the fore going specification as indicating the scope of the inventron.

I claim;

1. Locking means for lo'cking a window sash at vertically spaced positions in a sash frame comprising a track in the window sash, an outer latch element reciprocally movable in said track, an inner element reciprocally movable in said track, said outer latch element and said inner element being independently pivotable with respect to each other, tongue means carried by said outer latch element for locking insertion in slots in the sash frame, and spring means urging said tongue means away from the floor of the track in said sash.

2. Locking means in accordance with claim 1 in which the track includes at least one notch and the inner element of the locking means includes a projection which is spring urged by said spring means into said notch when said locking means is aligned with said notch in said track.

3. A locking means in accordance with claim 1 in which the bottom surface of said tongue is tapered upwardly from the front surface of said tongue.

4. A locking means in accordance with claim 1 in which the outer latch element is engaged with the spring means on its lowermost surface and includes a raised platform on its uppermost surface which projects beyond the track of said sash.

5. Locking means for locking a window sash at vertically spaced positions in a sash frame comprising a track in the window sash, an outer latch element reciprocally movable in said track, a knob on the inner end of said outer latch element, said knob engaging the floor of the track so as to permit the outer latch element to be pivoted, an inner element associated with said outer latch element so as to be reciprocally movable in said track, said inner element being independently pivotable with respect to said outer latch element, tongue means carried by said outer latch element for locking insertion in slots in the sash frame, and spring means urging said tongue means away from the floor of the track in said sash.

6. A locking means in accordance with claim 5 in which the bottom surface of said tongue is tapered upwardly from the front surface of said tongue.

7. A locking means in accordance with claim 5 in which said inner element has a groove in its bottom surface, and the knob on said outer latch element slidably fits in the groove in the inner element.

8. A locking means in accordance with claim 7 in which the track in the sash includes at least one notch, and the inner element includes a projection which is spring urged by said spring means into said no'tch when the locking means is aligned with said notch in said track.

9. A locking means in accordance with claim 8 in which said spring means comprises a bowed leaf spring which intermediate its ends engages the floor of the track, and has one end engaging the lowermost surface of said outer latching element, and its other end engaging the lowermost surface of said inner element.

10. A locking means in accordance with claim 9 in which the outer latch element includes a raised platform on its uppermost surface which projects beyond the track of said sash.

11. Locking means for locking a window sash at vertically spaced positions in a sash frame comprising a track in the window sash, said track including at least one notch, a latch element reciprocally movable in said track, tongue means carried by said latch element for locking insertion in slots in the sash frame, spring means urging said tongue means away from the floor of the track in said sash, and separate pivotable means operatively pivotably engaged with said latch element for being lockingly inserted within said no'tch of said track whereby said latch element may be locked in reference to said track.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 570,503 Robertson Nov. 3, 1896 889,630 Meikle June 2, 1908 1,249,176 Newman Dec. 4, 1917 1,836,991 Salomon Dec. 15, 1931 2,877,513 Rifkin Mar. 17, 1959 

